THE EGYPTIAN FOUNDATIONS OF GNOSTIC THOUGHT

transforming process and how the process leads to a dynamic state of energy, Re”. 94
In all phases, however, the dynamic nhh and passive dt must be present. In particular,
Englund notes that the Ennead as a whole functions as a dt-element for the final
outcome, Re, the representative of nhh. In all of this the nhh side is stressed through
the sexual/phallic creation myth.
In the Memphite system the stress is upon the dt aspect: “Bandaged and with
bound limbs Ptah is a typical representative of the passive and stationary dt-side” 95
and is depicted as being pregnant with creation. In this larger sense the two theologies
are complementary, in part perhaps explaining why the Memphite-Shabbaka text did
not reject the Heliopolitan system but presented it in balance with the new
understanding.
Nhh and dt appear in Late Period texts where the distinction continues. Some
examples:
1) The Leyden Magical Papyrus (Demotic, dated ca. 225 C.E.)
Ho! speak to me Thes, Tenor, the father of eternity (nhh) 96
Hail to him! Osiris, King of the Underworld... he who is under the nubs
tree in Meror, who is on the mountain of Poranos, who is on my house to
eternity (nhh) 97
Pomo who is called the mighty bull, the great god that is in the Uzat, that
came forth from the four [boundaries?] of eternity (dt) 98
Thy [serpent is a serpent?] of eternity (dt) 99
2) Hymns to Isis in Her Temple at Philae
You (Isis) are the divine mother of Horus, The Mighty Bull who protects Egypt,
Lord of the Nome, forever (dt) 100
The Lord and ruler of Eternity (dt) 101
May he (Ptolemy) gloriously appear as the KULE upon the throne of Horus,
eternally (dt) like Re 102
94
Englund, “Gods as a Frame of Reference,” 15.
95
Ibid., 15.
96
F. Ll. Griffith and Herbert Thompson eds., The Leyden Papyrus, (1904; New York: Dover
Publications, 1974), 61.
97
Ibid., 135.
98
Ibid., 67.
99
Ibid., 69. It seems to me that the first two citations concern themselves with demiurgic
figures, hence their nhh association, whereas the final two examples are clearly identified
with NUN and so the dt chaotic/archetypal qualifier is perhaps chosen.
100
Zabkar, Hymns to Isis in Her Temple at Philae, 21-22.
101
Ibid., 30.
102
Ibid., 58-59.